The annual Porchetta – Pig Roast got underway in Barga this morning. More than 100 friends and family gathered round the tables set out in a field with the delicious aroma of roast mingling with the wood smoke as the chefs who had been working since4 am set out a 60 kilo pig on the carving table and the festa could begin.
Once upon a time the pig would have been turned by hand slowly over the fire and in fact we have reported in the past on such events where people had spent seven or eight hours turning the handle on the spit but from the first Sagra Superciuk organised at la Moma just outside Barga they had set up an electrical contraption to do most of the hard work. That does not mean that it was automatic though, somebody had to be there right from 4 a.m. this morning to make sure that everything was okay and that the fire was stoked.
Bright sunshine for the event, even though rain had been forecast today, did not arrive letting the assembled enjoy the last sunshine of the season as they sat down to succulent roast pig with boiled potatoes, accordion and guitar music and what was described by one of the organisers, Claudio in the short interview below as “rivers of wine”.
This event used to be held further up the mountain at Bebbio (in fact we have reported on it more than once (article here) but the Pig Roast which was started by a group of friends back in 2000 just keeps on growing and has now moved down into the valley. Last years’ event can be seen here
Porchetta is a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. The body of the pig is gutted, boned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted, traditionally over wood. Porchetta is usually heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs, often wild. Porchetta has been selected by the Italian Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali as a “prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale” (”traditional agricultural-alimentary product”, one of a list of traditional Italian foods held to have cultural relevance).
Click below for a short interview with Claudio
pig_roast_claudio_13sept2009